Mafia Al Dente- Filmfest Preview Q&A

Film: Mafia Al Dente 

Producers: Abeer Khan, Mark Kemp, Elena Nasser

Interviewee: Elena Nasser

1. What’s your film about?

“This girl who’s from a long line of people who are in charge of the Mafia, but it’s a pasta mafia; pasta is illegal. She realized that the person in charge of the Mafia is awful and doing things really badly, so she wants to take it over to do it right.”

2. What’s the theme of your film?

“Make things happen for yourself, and making your destiny work for you.”

3. What was the inspiration for the film?

“We were all just brainstorming in my kitchen one night, then Mark Kemp came up with the idea of a mob boss and pasta and then from there it just snowballed.”

4. Can you describe the filming/editing process?

“The filming process is really fun, we had a lot of improv actors. We just tried a lot of things out and it was really interesting having some producers act and film at the same time. The editing process was just a lot of looking at the different takes, figuring out which looked best, lot of adjustments to lightings, trying to find the right music; it felt like I was just hanging out with my friends.”

5. How did you choose the actors/actresses?

“A lot of is was availability. Our main villain had a lot of rehearsals, we won’t back and forth with a lot of people, but he read through some of the stuff and it worked so much better than we thought it was going to. With Gretchen it was never a question, we couldn’t picture anyone else for it. Mark was originally not going to play it, but we couldn’t find anyone else that really worked for it. One day we needed an extra so my brother got in it.”

6. What was your favorite part about the creative process?

“My favorite part was going through the film beginning to end. My favorite part was challenging myself to really get it done because you have more than yourself to keep accountable. There’s a purpose for you making this.”

7. What messages are you trying to convey?

“You are what you make yourself, age doesn’t matter, and the only limitations you have are the ones you accept.”

8. What can your audience expect to get out of the film?

“The audience can express some surprising twists and cameos. Something I like about it is that it’s not predictable. You’re in a totally different world and you just have to roll with it.”

9. How is your film different from the rest?

“We just went with it and we just tried to have a good time, because we thought if we had a good time maybe the audience will too.”